Coloring Outside the Lines
by BetShesBeautiful
Summary: Bella is bored in a snowstorm and thinks deeply about her relationship with Edward. OneShot BxE


Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Series.

Explanation: My best friend and I love coloring with crayons and I was talking to her about Bella and Edward and this idea came into my head. Hope you like it, and enjoy! Please review if you think it's good! This is supposed to be pre-Eclipse and post-New Moon.

**Bella's PoV**

It was Christmas time again, although it still felt like November. Christmas seemed so far but it was really on a few days away. The unrelenting snow outside had stranded me in the house and I was bored to death. Edward claimed he had some Christmas shopping to do, but since I made him promise he could only get me one thing and he only had his family to buy for, I doubted he really was shopping. I mean, his family could buy anything they wanted at any time. Why would they need gifts from each other? It wouldn't be any fun to get Alice or Edward gifts because they would already know. I decided he hadn't been truthful with me. I couldn't think of anything to do without Edward. Just thinking his name gave me shivers. As I sat on the bottom step, a small idea came into my seriously drained mind.

I had always loved to color as a little kid. I wouldn't say that I was artistic, but I did have my moments. I remembered Charlie had kept some coloring books and a big box of Crayons in the coat closet under the stairs. I wondered hopefully if they were still there. I ran as carefully as possible to the faded door that I hadn't opened once since coming to live with Charlie. There, under the single light bulb that illuminated the small room, on a shelf was the Crayon box on top of three faded coloring books. The first one was fully colored. The next was scribbled all over on. Both I remembered. But the last one I didn't recognize. It was shiny and almost new-looking. There were no colored pages that I could see, but there was something familiar about this book. Inside, it contained colorless pictures of cats, dogs, birds and most every animal known to man. Perfect.

Taking the book and the box to our faded kitchen table, I sat on a chair and flipped through the book. I chose one that made me laugh. It was a bat flying in front of the moon and some stars. It had tiny fangs that made me think of the time when I had asked Edward more about vampires. It was exactly what I needed to keep me entertained. I opened the box to be slightly disappointed but amused. There were about three hundred crayons, all broken, but mostly a variety of colors. I picked up the sharpest black I could find and began to color the cartoon bat. As I finished his head and reached in to take out one of the yellow ones, I noticed a small piece of paper buried and stained under some of the many Crayons. I pulled it out without much force and dusted off all the scraps of Crayon. I unfolded the paper and looked at it. I supposed it was my mother and I outside my house. I had obviously drawn and colored it, but the picture pulled me into a deep thought. Even though I had probably been four or five when I had made this picture, it was perfectly colored in. I had kind of always colored in the lines. That's just the kind of person I was. I never took risks or acted without planning carefully.

This picture, I decided was my life before Edward. I was suddenly inspired. I picked up the black Crayon again and began to scribble along the outside of the bat. I kept scribbling with different colors until the picture was just a big mess. I thought it was quite pretty, but probably because it had new meaning for me. Someone else might have thought it was just stupid and ugly because coloring inside the lines was how you were supposed to live life, right?

I heard my bedroom window open and close. I gave a little squeak of excitement and bounded up the stairs, completely forgetting my coloring escapade. I was running so quickly up the stairs that I didn't notice when Edward was standing in my way and I slammed into him quite hard. I fell backwards and began preparing to hit the ground, but as always, I never did. "Hello." He chuckled.

"Hey." I looked up into his eyes and they were happy and light like butterscotch. His smell reached my nose and I lost my train of thought. All I could think to do was kiss him, and that's what I did. I reached up on my socked tip toes and gently united my lips with his. I could feel his smile and then reaction to me. He wrapped his arms around mine so I couldn't tangle my hands into his hair as I had always done. He broke away after a few immeasurable moments to let me breathe. I looked down as I concentrated on becoming normal again. "How was shopping?" I said, trying to make conversation. My bedroom was only a few steps away and self control was becoming harder now. Stupid hormones.

"It was good. I missed you." It sounded like a question. My stomach picked the worst times to be hungry. It growled menacingly. He stifled a laugh. "You know, when I leave you don't have to starve yourself."

"I forgot about lunch." I really had. Sometimes with nothing to do, I would get distracted and forget about everything but Edward. Kind of a bad habit, I was sure.

"Well, let's get you something to eat." He swooped me into his arms and in seconds we were standing in front of my refrigerator. He set me down, seeming distracted. I didn't realize what he was staring at until I remembered the coloring book.

"Ah! Don't look at that!" I rushed over the where the book lay on the table and snapped it shut. I picked it up and set the box on top. In a few swift and ungraceful movements, I ran to the closet, threw them in, and slammed the door.

"Were you… coloring?" He almost sounded disgusted.

"I was just looking at old drawings I had colored when I was a little kid here. That's all. No big deal." Edward turned to inspect my always obvious eyes.

"Okay," he said slowly. "What do you want for dinner?"

Even though that winter night, I was embarrassed by my childlike actions, I found something out about my life of the past two years. Edward had taught me something very important: how to color outside the lines. I don't even know what would have happened to me if I had never met him. Life would be almost meaningless and I would be extremely lonely. I silently thanked God all the time that I had been blessed with Edward Cullen.


End file.
